On Melbourne’s suburban fringe, plans have been quietly taking shape that will change how Victoria deals with its rubbish. Last Wednesday, seven waste-to-energy plants were given the green light, in addition to four already approved – a total surpassing the rest of the country combined.

Together, the new projects will have a licence to burn through 2.35m tonnes of rubbish a year – more than double the 1m-tonne limit the Victorian parliament set when it first legislated the waste-to-energy scheme in 2022.

But the plan faces opposition – from some residents of outer-suburban communities slated to host the plants, and also from within Labor’s own ranks.

Legalise Cannabis MP Rachel Payne says she is worried about how fast the program is growing.

“This is the most significant shift in how we manage waste in Victoria’s history and while on paper it sounds great, we really don’t know enough about it,” Payne says.

Next Wednesday, she will use a motion in parliament to call for a pause and a review of the economic, social and environmental impacts of waste-to-energy in the state.

A similar inquiry, put forward by the Nationals, has also been established in New South Wales.

‘Quick fix’

Waste-to-energy – a process that involves burning non-recyclable waste in high-temperature furnaces to generate electricity or heat – has experienced a surge of interest in Australia as landfills near capacity.

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One plant is already operational south of Perth, in Western Australia, with another under construction nearby, and there are proposals in NSW, Queensland and South Australia. The practice however, remains banned in the ACT.

Victoria began exploring waste-to-energy as part of an overhaul of its waste and recycling system after China’s 2018 decision to restrict recycling imports. In 2020, the state released a new waste policy, citing a need to develop the industry to help reach its target of diverting 80% of waste from landfill by 2030.

View image in fullscreen The Kwinana Energy Recovery plant, south of Perth, is designed to burn up to 460,000 tonnes of non-recyclable waste annually – about a quarter of the amount Perth sends to landfill. Photograph: Acciona

But an auditor-general’s report, released in April, said there had been little progress: “The proportion of waste going to landfill has not changed in the four years since the circular economy policy started.”

Payne says as a result, the state has embraced waste-to-energy as a “quick fix solution” to meet its goal.

Victoria’s first waste-to-energy project, at a Maryvale paper mill in the Latrobe Valley, has joined with nine councils in Melbourne’s south east to take up to 95% of their waste because there is no space left for it locally.

Part of this plan involves a new waste transfer station in Hampton Park, within Payne’s upper house region, where rubbish would be collected and trucked to Maryvale.

But the Environment Protection Authority refused the application in April, citing risks to human health and the environment due to odour and noise emissions near homes. This decision is now under appeal.

Payne says there’s been little consultation with the community, which is culturally diverse and lower-income.

“Just think if this was happening in a more affluent area – there would be much more community outrage, they wouldn’t want it in their back yard,” Payne says.

“Working-class suburbs shouldn’t be the literal dumping ground for these sites.”

The auditor-general’s report identified three more facilities in development with a combined annual capacity of 1.1m tonnes. It found if the government approved additional licences, up to its 2m-tonne cap, Victoria could divert up to 87% of current waste from landfill.

Since the report, the cap has been lifted even higher, to 2.5m tonnes.

This has allowed for seven more licences to be granted: to Cleanaway Operations, HiQ EFW Victoria, Knox Transfer Station Pty Ltd, Liquid Power Co Pty Ltd, Melbourne Water Corporation, Recovered Energy Laverton Pty Ltd and Zerogen Holdings Pty Ltd.

Recycling Victoria says many are still in feasibility stages with final locations to be confirmed through EPA and planning approvals processes.

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Health risks

In Wollert, north of Melbourne, resident Julie Ahmad first learned of the proposal for a plant 7km from her home via a social media post in February 2024.

“I was very concerned because the community did not know anything about it. I knew nothing about it. There was no information about what this incinerator entails,” she says.

At that time, the proposal was 380,000 tonnes per year capacity, but by the Wednesday 13 August announcement that had grown to 760,000 tonnes.

Cleanaway, who will operate the Wollert site, says it has been talking to the community since the project was announced in 2021, including in person and online information sessions, one-on-one meetings and in languages including Arabic, Hindi and Urdu.

If we’re going to build them, then they need to be built to the highest possible standard Dr Peter Tait

“Cleanaway also established a stakeholder reference group made up of local residents from a range of diverse cultural and religious backgrounds with an interest in the proposal, providing an active channel between the local community and Cleanaway,” a spokesperson said.

Ahmad, who has co-founded the No Northern Incinerator Wollert in response, says her main concerns are about the environmental and health impacts of the plants.

Dr Peter Tait, a general practitioner and member of Public Health Association of Australia, the peak body for public health professionals, undertook a review of the health impacts of modern waste-to-energy plants, published in 2019.

Tait says the health risks associated with waste incineration were “low, but not nothing”, and could be high in certain circumstances.

The majority of incinerators plan to burn municipal solid waste – the sort of material in kerbside bins – and its the plastics and metals in common garbage that could emit furans and dioxins in the process of being burnt.

“If we’re going to build them, then they need to be built to the highest possible standard, and more importantly, they need to be operated to the highest possible standard,” Tait says.

He recommends real-time, continuous monitoring of emissions and contamination at the plants, and in surrounding communities and nearby food-growing area, and for residents concerns to be taken seriously.

In Wollert, nearly 2,500 people have signed a parliamentary petition opposing the project.

Sponsored by local Labor MP Bronwyn Halfpenny, the petition says the proposed site is within 2km of a retirement village, 400 metres from a creek and several schools.

Among its signatories is the energy minister, Lily D’Ambrosio, who represents the neighbouring Mill Park electorate and who steered the waste-to-energy strategy through parliament in 2022.

A similar facility proposed in Lara, which is yet to secure government approval, is fiercely opposed by local Labor MP Ella George and deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, whose federal seat takes in the area.

But with Victorians sending 4.5m tonnes of rubbish to landfill each year, the pressure will only grow about how to manage it.